Anticlimax

Overview

Sexuality has been reframed by postmodernism, but this clear discussion of literature, politics, and popular culture provides a useful historical view. The sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s is remembered as a time of great freedom for women, but did the sexual revolution have the same goals as the Women’s Liberation Movement? Was it truly liberation for women or just another insidious form of oppression? This provocative book argues that sexual freedom sometimes directly opposed actual freedom for women. Tracing sexual mores and attitudes from the 1950s through the 1990s, it explores the nature of both straight and gay relationships and offers original and compelling commentary on The Joy of Sex, Lolita, Naked Lunch, and other representations in the literature on sexuality. Newly updated, this edition provides an important critique and insight into these controversial issues.

Reviews

"A diligent scholarly work, which is uncompromising in its level of integrity, Anticlimax is a deeply personal book. It . . . provides meticulously researched content and thoughtful analysis on the practices of sexuality, the nature of power, and the possibility of change. It unmasks smugness in its very many disguises; it is always wonderful, exhilarating, and daunting."  —Ryl Harrison, PhD student in political science, James Cook University

"Anticlimax is the most impressing and critical book that I have read in a long time. Jeffreys is clear, concise, smart, and critical and in all this incorporates a dark sense of humor that I truly appreciate. She delivers strong arguments that are difficult to disprove or argue against...Anticlimax is a great book to use in classroom settings and I wish it would have been mandatory reading in my Women's Studies classes or in the classes I took that discussed sexuality." —Elin Weiss, Metapsychology Online Reviews

Author Biography

Sheila Jeffreys is a feminist activist and a professor in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, where she teaches sexual politics and international feminist politics. She is a founding member of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia and the author of numerous books, including Beauty and Misogyny, The Idea of Prostitution, and Unpacking Queer Politics.